Cleaners and janitors employed by school contractors Mitie are taking to the streets to protest over low pay.

Staff from Greenwood Academy, St Matthew’s Academy, Arran High School and Stanley Primary will join colleagues from East and South Ayrshire to step up the GMB campaign for a living wage.

GMB Scotland is also demanding that janitors working in local schools, which are operated on behalf of North, South and East Ayrshire Councils by the contractor, Mitie, are paid at least the same as council employed janitors.

Members of the public across Ayrshire will be asked to sign petitions backing the cleaners and janitors at special street stalls organised by the union in Irvine, Kilmarnock and Ayr over the next few weeks.

The union say that in each of the 13 Mitie-managed schools across Ayrshire, low-paid, predominantly women, workers are being treated as ‘second-class citizens’.

The union also point out that school cleaners employed by Mitie are paid nearly £1 below the Scottish Living Wage, currently £8.75 an hour, which is paid as a minimum to every other council worker.

North Ayrshire Council have urged Mitie to act

GMB Scotland organiser, Benny Rankin, said: “We are asking local people to get behind these cleaners and janitors and to help us end poverty pay in our local schools.

“GMB Scotland are demanding that all school cleaners get at least a living wage and to ensure that janitors in the council’s outsourced schools are paid as much as those employed by the councils.

“It is a scandal that local council leaders and Mitie have allowed it to get to this point, but these school staff have been treated as second-class workers long enough. Poverty pay in Ayrshire’s schools needs to end.

“We are talking about a relatively small amount of money for Mitie, a company which is making £77.1million in profits this year, and the councils, to put this right, but we have been faced with a game of pass the parcel on who is to blame for the pay discrimination against these workers and a failure of political leadership from councillors to get the issue resolved.

“Until they do, local councillors should not be surprised to see school cleaners and janitors campaigning on our streets.”

North Ayrshire Council leader Joe Cullinane says he is supporting the GMB campaign.

He said: “I have supported the GMB on this issue ever since I was first elected in 2012.

“During my campaign for the council to secure living wage accreditation, I got the council’s living wage working group to send an invitation to Mitie to come along and discuss their non-payment of the living wage for janitors and cleaners. Mitie refused to attend.

Councillor Joe Cullinane

“When, as council leader, I finally secured living wage accreditation for the council in 2016 I again, with the support of the GMB, approached Mitie to request a discussion on their non-payment of the living wage. Mitie didn’t respond to the request.

“And a few weeks ago, with the GMB advising us that Mitie may now be willing to discuss the issue, I instructed council officers to look into the issue again.

“I will continue to support the GMB’s campaign and hope that in turn they will support my efforts to get the Scottish Government to help the council buy-out the PPP contracts, something that they have repeatedly refused to do when I have asked.”

A North Ayrshire Council spokesperson added: “We have previously written to Mitie urging them to consider matching annual pay negotiations/awards with that of the council.

“In June this year, we approached the GMB and indicated that we would like a formal meeting with them and Mitie to discuss this issue further.

“We hope that a meeting can be arranged so we can reach a resolution that satisfies all parties.”

A spokesperson for Mitie said: “We appreciate our cleaners play an important role in schools across the region.

“We recognise that the decision to implement the Scottish Living Wage should be offered to our clients, and as such we support their policy on this matter.

“With regards to Ayrshire, we have not received any invitations to meet with the council, but would welcome the opportunity to discuss this matter with them.”